There has been a dramatic increase in the popularity of various types of chai, spiced tea beverages prepared using combinations of teas, herbs and spices. Common ingredients in a chai include cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom. Other ingredients used include nutmeg, peppercorn, fennel, anise seed, mint, bay leaves and a blend of teas rather than a single type of tea. Traditionally, chai was served as a hot milk-based drink, sweetened with sugar or honey, but is now popular both hot and cold, and with or without milk and sweeteners.
Along with being a sensuous social drink, chai is known for its ability to relieve stress, counter lethargy, enhance relaxation, settle an upset stomach and even help with digestion. Different tea, herb and spice blends are used to address different ailments. There are many health benefits associated with teas. Tea is known to have naturally occurring antioxidants, which combine with and neutralize free radicals. Free radicals are atoms or molecules with one unpaired electron known to cause cellular damage and believed to accelerate the progression of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related diseases.
Traditionally, the making of a good chai has been a complicated task, requiring much time and many different ingredients. Factors that impact the quality of a chai include the combinations of teas, herbs and spices, the quantities of each ingredient, the proper infusion of flavors throughout the chai product, the right temperature for the infusion process and the duration of the infusion process. Different teas, herbs and spices infuse liquids with flavor at different rates. For example, herbs and spices generally require longer infusion periods than those required by teas. The teas, herbs and spices have different ideal infusion temperatures. A flavoring agent may produce a bitter taste as a result of either a prolonged infusion period or a high infusion temperature. Slow-infusing herbs and spices are often ground to speed up the process of infusion. However, grinding herbs and spices can impact the flavor obtained by embittering the liquid infused. Grinding may cause further exposure of, or increase the surface area of, the husk or skin of a flavoring, which portion tends to produce the bitter taste for many flavoring agents. Proper submersion of the flavoring agents is also important. Tea leaves, tea bags, certain herbs and spices and powdered mixtures tend to float in water and thus prevent proper infusion of the flavors, resulting in weak flavoring or only the surface being flavored. Both the extraction of flavoring and the mixing of the flavored water are facilitated by the agitation of heated water in communication with the flavoring agents.
Disclosed automated processes and machines used to infuse a liquid with a flavoring have various deficiencies and limitations that negatively impact the efficiency of the infusion process, or lower the quality of the flavoring that may be obtained. Most significantly, most of the automated processes and machines used in the preparation of tea beverages do not address the variety of infusion properties among different teas, herbs and spices and, therefore, do not allow for a high quality flavoring.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,964 issued to Niederberger et al. discloses an automatic tea-making machine that may be used to prepare a hot beverage, in the course of the preparation of which beverage a flavor is extracted. The invention does not allow for the use of multiple flavoring agents, including teas, herbs and spices, wherein groups of flavoring agents are subjected to different infusion parameters, such as infusion periods and infusion temperatures, dependent on the infusion characteristics of the individual flavoring agents. The tea-preparation chamber is cylindrical in shape, into which a tea strainer of a circular segmental shape is inserted. The agitator, operable to move the water, is located within the portion of the tea-preparation chamber not occupied by the tea strainer. Thus, Niederberger limits the ability of the agitated water to extract flavor from the tea substance, and to circulate the extracted flavoring. Also, while the invention allows for the tea substance to be automatically introduced to and removed from the heated water, there is no mechanism disclosed for preventing dripping of concentrated flavoring upon the removal of the tea substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,672 issued to Cooper discloses a process for preparing a tea beverage using an espresso machine. Flavor is extracted by passing pressurized water and steam through multiple “pods”, each containing a different tea or flavoring agent, through. However, Cooper does not disclose a means of accommodating two different teas or flavoring agents that require different infusion periods.
The market for chai or tea-based beverages continues to grow. There are various factors that may impact the quality of the taste obtained. Because of the demand for such beverages, and the complexity of the traditional process for preparing such beverages, there is a need for a process and machine that allow the quick and easy preparation of a wide variety of such beverages having a consistent, reproducible, high quality. The principles applicable to the preparation of tea beverages may also be used in the preparation of other beverages and soups that require the infusion of flavoring from multiple flavoring agents having different infusion properties. Therefore, there is a need for a process and machine that allow for the quick, easy, consistent, reproducible infusion of a liquid with a high quality flavoring.
With the shift among consumers toward natural products, and away from chemically or artificially products, there is likely to be a market for an apparatus and a process that facilitate the production of scented products that use natural sources. The principles applicable to the preparation of flavored beverages and soups are also applicable to the testing for and preparation of scented liquids, particularly those using scents derived from natural sources. For example, many of the herbs and spices and other flavored agents that are likely to be used in the preparation of a flavored soup or beverage are also valued for valued for their aromas and used in the production of scented products. Scented liquids may be used in the production of products such as cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, perfumes, scented candles and air fresheners. Therefore, a process and machine facilitating the use of natural scent agents in the production of scented liquids would fill a need as yet unrecognized.